The issue of transgender rights animated the presidential campaign. Now it has made its way to the Supreme Court, and in more ways than one.

Summary

Chase Strangio will become the first openly transgender attorney to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court, representing families challenging Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming health care for minors.

Tennessee defends the law as protecting children from premature medical decisions, while Strangio argues the ban denies critical care endorsed by major medical groups.

The case comes amid growing restrictions on transgender rights nationwide.

Strangio, an ACLU lawyer, emphasizes the harm of denying necessary treatments, drawing from personal experience.

A decision is expected by summer, with potential policy shifts under the next administration.

  • floofloof@lemmy.caEnglish
    656·
    2 days ago

    The thing is, this care helps kids with gender dysphoria to get through their teenage years and make it to adulthood. It can’t simply be postponed until later without serious impact on the well being of the kid. We are talking about things like puberty blockers here, not surgeries:

    Major medical associations agree that gender-affirming care is clinically appropriate for children and adults with gender dysphoria, which, according to the American Psychiatric Association, is psychological distress that may result when a person’s gender identity and sex assigned at birth do not align.

    Though the care is highly individualized, some children may decide to use reversible puberty suppression therapy. This part of the process may also include hormone therapy that can lead to gender-affirming physical change. Surgical interventions, however, are not typically done on children and many health care providers do not offer them to minors. (CNN)

    Gender dysphoria is by all accounts a deeply troubling experience during teenage years, particularly if your body is growing in a direction that makes you ever more uncomfortable. Puberty blockers can help:

    For transgender and gender-diverse youth who have gender dysphoria, delaying puberty might:

    • Improve mental well-being.
    • Ease depression and anxiety.
    • Improve social interactions with others.
    • Lower the need for future surgeries.
    • Ease thoughts or actions of self-harm. (Mayo Clinic)

    You can’t do this once you’re already an adult, and there are physical changes you might be deeply uncomfortable with that can be locked in by puberty and will now require more radical interventions as an adult. I know trans adults who really struggle with the feeling that they should have started medical treatments sooner, before puberty brought changes to their bodies.

    These treatments aren’t prescribed lightly either, contrary to what some right-wing voices would have you imagine. From the same Mayo Clinic page:

    In most cases, to begin using puberty blockers, an individual needs to:

    • Show a lasting pattern of gender nonconformity or gender dysphoria.
    • Have gender dysphoria that began or worsened at the start of puberty.
    • Address any psychological, medical or social problems that could interfere with the treatment.
    • Be able to understand the treatment and agree to have it. This is called informed consent.

    Puberty blockers are not recommended for children who have not started puberty.

    • OneMeaningManyNames@lemmy.mlEnglish
      137·
      2 days ago

      Nice, but what have you done today so that more people see this info, so that we have less next door ignorance like what is manifested all over Lemmy?

      • loutr
        361·
        2 days ago

        Maybe I missed the joke, but he did write up an informative, sourced and well laid out comment about it? I for one found it interesting, I knew of the general reasoning but hadn’t taken the time to research the facts behind it.

        • OneMeaningManyNames@lemmy.mlEnglish
          223·
          2 days ago

          Exactly. I said it is so good that more people should see it.

          Let’s do our part people and stop downvoting each other…

      • Tanis Nikana@lemmy.world
        223·
        2 days ago

        Maybe you could help, instead of bemoaning that the one who already worked hard didn’t work hard enough? They’re already flat-out sprinting toward your four-wheel drive goalposts.

        • OneMeaningManyNames@lemmy.mlEnglish
          120·
          2 days ago

          Man dial it down a bit, I am combating transphobic ignorance on Lemmy almost full time. I am just worried that the only ones seeing our good arguments are you and me. Otherwise, I won’t respond to that tone.

          • Tanis Nikana@lemmy.world
            10·
            2 days ago

            I got in trouble a moment ago and had my comment removed cause I said unsavory things about you.

            Quit your sealioning, yeah? I looked down your post history and have a reasonable belief you’re better than this.